This Thursday marks the 27th anniversary of World Food Day, a global event orchestrated to raise awareness and understanding of hunger, and to seek solutions to alleviate this worldwide problem.   This year’s theme is ‘World Food Insecurity - the challenge of climate change’ and events are expected to take place in over 150 countries, and in cities across the U.S. The focus of World Food Day is particularly vital now as we are seeing a dramatic rise of food shortages and sharp increases in food prices that are effecting people everywhere.   There are a multitude of factors that have led to these dire circumstances, and World Food Day brings together communities and organizations to coordinate dynamic and localized responses to the problems.

takepart by attending an event in your community or organize an event if there isn’t one planned already.

Heal the Bay, a Santa Monica based water watchdog, announced that 91% of state beaches they tracked have rated very good to excellent.   Perhaps thinking that was good enough, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger decided to cut $1 million in state funding for water-quality monitoring.   And just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water.   Apparently, the money will be reallocated to help fight fires after a particularly dry season, which ironically is part of the reason the beaches are cleaner this year.   I’m all for having enough money to fight fires, but it seems to me, in my limited knowledge of firefighting techniques, that these two aspects of the budget could work symbiotically.   Why don’t we use the cleaner water to fight the fires?  I realize it’s more complicated than that, and that’s not how the budget functions.   But a boy can dream, can’t he?

Now that I’ve moved to California, I’m hoping to fufill my boyhood fantasy of learning how to surf.   From lip-synching to Surfin’ USA in the 2nd grade talent show to seeing Brian Wilson at the Hollywood Bowl recently, I’m constantly reminded how much fun it can be.   But I certainly don’t want to be hangin’ 10 in sewage, so hopefully beach monitoring and clean-ups can get the funding they deserve.

takepart by volunteering with Heal the Bay and let Gov. Schwarzenegger know you want funding restored to water-quality monitoring.

The Clean Water Restoration Act is coming to a vote in the House of Representatives sometime very soon, and both Environment Illinois and The New York Times editorial board would like you to know how important the vote is.  The original Clean Water act, passed in 1972, was supposed to protect all the waters and wetlands in the United States, plain and simple.  However, a court case from a few years back muddied the waters of the Act (some pun intended).  As The Times puts it:

This jurisdictional confusion stems largely from a bizarre 2006 Supreme Court ruling in which the justices split three ways on which waters were protected under the act. A conservative foursome said that only permanent waters deserved protection. A liberal foursome said that all waters, including seasonal, intermittent streams, deserved protection. Seeking to split the difference, Justice Anthony Kennedy ruled that such streams as well as remote wetlands deserved protection if regulators could show a significant nexus to a navigable body of water somewhere downstream.

Based on the confusing nature of three dissenting opinions

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A group of Israeli scientists have found a way to “listen” to plants in order to detect the presence of different types of water pollution. By shinning a laser beam on small pieces of algae floating in the water, they’re able to hear sound waves that describe the types and levels of water contamination.

Algae is a “red light” for pollution because it’s the first thing to be affected. Scientists note that the sound method for testing for water contamination could become a faster, more accurate and less expensive way to detect deteriorating water conditions than those available now.

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H2O Africa supports sustainable, integrated water programs, and was co-founded by actor Matt Damon, who just wrapped his latest movie with Participant Media, called The Informant.

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A serene homemaker rises the dishes in a stew of brown sludge while watching her children from the kitchen window playing in what looks like a kiddie pool of…raw sewage? The video below, created by World Vision UK, a religious non-profit, seeks to put into perspective the fact that 1.1 billion people on the planet don’t have access to clean drinking water. It’s a little jarring, so don’t say I didn’t warn you:

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This PSA for the organization Charity Water first aired during American Idol Gives Back on April 9. Charity Water helps build wells in Africa and provides clean, safe drinking water. Their PSA features Jennifer Connelly going to Central Park to get dirty water for her family as millions of mothers in Africa do every day.

and donate. Just $20 can give one person clean and safe drinking water for 20 years. Find out more at http://www.charitywater.org

PlayPumps International is merging play and utility together to bring clean water to millions of children and their families in Africa. These water pumps are powered by children at play ” they spin the merry-go-round PlayPump, and clean drinking water is pumped out of the earth into a 2,500 liter tank, raised above ground. A tap on the tank makes access to water easy and safe.

For more on this marvelously simple construction, check out the video below, and to find out how PlayPump is improving the health and living conditions for those in need.

Ray Zahab, an ultra-distance runner and activist, set out on November 1, 2006 to run across the length of the Sahara desert in an effort to raise awareness for H2O Africa and their mission to bring clean water to the people of the continent. Ray completed his journey of 4350 miles across the Sahara in 111 days, averaging 43 miles per day.

Check out these ten fun facts about Ray Zahab, as well as an engaging interview on “The Hour” with this spectacular athlete below. You can also by finding out more about Ray’s awareness organizations and races.

1) Ray Zahab has been raising awareness for water based issues in developing countries since 2006.

2) Ray began his athletic career as a professional equestrian trainer.

3) Ray’s first ultra-distance race was the 100 mile Yukon Arctic Ultra.

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